[Video] The Ten Biggest Marketing Trends of 2017

If you’re wondering what the big trends to look out for are, just watch this.

Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com


[Video] Valentine's Day Marketing Stats That Will Make You Rethink Your Marketing

The way consumers celebrate Valentine’s Day has changed.
This video explains how.

https://youtu.be/ZCAbMT_RtfI

Did you know that Valentine’s Day sales reached an all-time high in 2016 at $19.7 Billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
Fortune and MarketWatch report that this year, sales for the holiday are projected to dip down to $18.2 Billion.

But nonetheless, Valentine’s Day continues to be one of the year’s most popular holidays – at least when it comes to consumer spending.

Marketers take note, the way consumers are celebrating Valentine’s Day has changed and the stats might actually surprise you.

1. 54.8% of Americans Celebrate Valentine’s Day

In fact, people of all ages celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day.

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2. Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending is Second Only to Christmas

Spending lots of money on Valentine’s Day is pretty normal. On average, people spend $512.03 for the special day.

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Considering what people are buying, the numbers add up…

3. Jewelry is the biggest consumer spending category, followed by Experiences

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4. $681 Million total Valentine’s Day gifts are spent on pets

Just a few of ClearPier's very own doggy friends.

Just a few of our very own doggy friends at ClearPier.

That’s right. Consumers love their pets and Valentine’s Day is just another excuse to dote on our furry friends. In fact, 19% of all Valentine’s Day gifts go to pets, averaging out at $26 per shopper.

5. Singles, couples, men and women all participate – but men on average spend TWICE as much

No a days, it would be a mistake for marketers to focus on only couples. Many single people now also celebrate Valentine’s Day, while others simply buy presents for friends.

In fact, Bing has reported that when people search “Valentine’s Day Gifts For…” 22% of people fill the rest of that sentence in with “husband,” 20% finish it with “friend,” and 17% type in “boyfriend.”

And although things have changed, some traditional gender norms seem to persist as men typically spend on average twice as much as women for Valentine’s Day. A single man may spend on average $71 for the holiday, while a single woman may only spend $40, although people in a relationship typically spend more.

6. More people are shopping online, and Mobile drives that growth

From 2015 to 2016, mobile searches for Valentine’s Day rose from 40% to 48% according to Bing. However, there is still a 50-50 split between desktop and mobile shoppers.

7. 50% of proposals actually happen around Valentine’s Day which contributes to keep jewelry a popular gift item

That’s good news for brands advertising big ticket items like engagement rings, ear rings, necklaces, and more.

“I do.”

8. But Experiences based gifts or evenings out are also popular – great news for local search.

39% of individuals prefer gifts like tickets to a concert, a dinner out, or a day at the spa or a relaxing stay at a ritzy hotel to material gifts.

And with 34% of consumers planning to eat out on Valentine’s Day, restaurant ads actually peak the day before the holiday. And the reason for that may simply be that Valentine’s Day gifting usually includes less planning and more impulse purchases instead.

9. These were the most popular search terms in 2016 on Bing for Valentine’s Day (Desktop):

  • Etsy
  • Flowers
  • Olive Garden
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Victoria Secret
  • Edible Arrangements
  • Love
  • Kay Jewelers
  • Hearts
  • Eddie Bauer

10. These were the most popular search terms in 2016 on Bing for Valentine’s Day (Mobile):

  • Jewelry
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Engagement rings
  • Earrings
  • Love
  • Gift card
  • Pandora charms
  • Etsy
  • Necklace
  • Online grocery

11. Valentine’s Day results in 7.6% increase of usage for matchmaking apps like Tinder

In fact, according to Tinder, last Valentine’s Day the app saw a 7.6% usage increase and a 6% match increase (U.S.). Messaging also increases by 5.2% (U.S.) on Tinder around Valentine’s Day.

#Love: I’m Single, Therefore I Tinder

So it’s a happy Valentine’s Day for many, indeed.

 

You can get more Valentine’s Day marketing insights from Bing in their Search Bing for Love presentation.

Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com


Back to School Basics: Programmatic and RTB

Programmatic Unifies Efficiency, Precision Targeting and Storytelling for Brands

Working in the digital ad industry is like walking on shifting sand – the landscape is constantly changing.

New technologies and strategies are constantly emerging and wading through the jargon of digital can be exhausting.As marketers we must constantly adapt and for those just becoming familiar with online advertising, it’s worth going back to basics.

Get a quick primer on programmatic and real time bidding (RTB). Check out the IAB council’s video below on how programmatic is relevant to brand advertisers, media buyers, and publishers on both sides of the market.

Video courtesy of the IAB.

Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com


Your Ad Club Golf Day 2016 Recap

ClearPier was a proud sponsor at this year’s Ad Club Golf Day which took place on July 21st at the Lionhead Golf and Country Club. Stationed at two holes on each course, we met with hundreds of golfers on the green.

It was a phenomenal fun filled day with colleagues, clients, and friends. If you weren’t there, you missed out on a chance to win a TaylorMade M2 driver, courtesy of ClearPier. Check out all the festivities from Golf Day 2016 in the quick video below:

https://youtu.be/rTI8s9E6C7E


8 Awesome Things You Missed at ClearPier's Rooftop Party

Over 200 Agency Guests and Publishers Attended ClearPier’s Rooftop Party 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-kgOkEwVLk

This year’s inaugural Rooftop Party, hosted by ClearPier, was a big success. Over 200 agency guests and representatives of our exclusive publishers packed the house at the Thompson Hotel Rooftop and lounge in Toronto.

If you missed it, know that it was a pretty awesome party. So exactly what did you miss? Lets begin with:

1. This amazing view.

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2.  Some serious poolside lounging…with drinks.

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3. A fantastic DJ who kept the party rolling until the midnight hour.

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4. So much delicious food and drinks…all…night…long.

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5. All the fun… with all the bubbles!

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6. The unveiling of our mission film in front of a packed crowd. 

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If you still haven’t seen it, check it out here.

7. A showcase of some of our top premium publishers.

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8. Sparkling conversation with the industry’s best.  

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Until next year… Cheers! Don’t forget to check out the video for more.


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Making Honest Connections: The ClearPier Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIJJ8AwV1LA

Everyone has been asking, who is ClearPier? Let us tell you all about our mission.

ClearPier was founded on the firm belief that the field of Digital Marketing must be held to higher standards of accountability. Historically the least transparent elements of Digital Advertising have been ad price, performance, and placement. Advertisers have struggled with the problem of ad fraud, paying for ad placements that deliver poor results.

Meanwhile, publishers have seen their margins shrink as more layers in the traditional ad stack are added into the digital advertising process. Thus the problem in the market: although advertisers over pay for ad space, publishers never see those additional profits, which are instead, reaped by the middle men.Msk

The driving mission behind ClearPier, founded by partners Sunil Abraham (CEO), Jignesh Shah (CTO) and Steve Melles (Co-Founder) in 2012, is to solve this problem by using innovative and creative technology to offer advertisers and publishers a completely transparent digital marketing solution where everyone wins.

At the core of the business is cutting-edge technology and driven, passionate people rallying together to achieve a singular mission: to make programmatic ad buying and selling simple, easy, and brand-safe.

Watch the video and learn all about how ClearPier is changing the advertising landscape in Canada.


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Five Key Highlights from Dx3 Canada 2016

Last week Toronto hosted Dx3 Canada, the nation’s leading technology, digital marketing, and retail conference.

Now in its fifth year, Dx3 brought brands, agencies, retailers, advertisers, and publishers together for two days of networking and education. Despite a winter storm that threatened to throw off the entire show, over 120 exhibitors from diverse verticals, 4,000 attendees from all over Canada, and over 60 speakers participated. It was a stimulating conference featuring some of the most exciting and innovative technological advancements in the B2C space. Here are all the highlights you need to know!

1. ClearPier Makes a Splash at Dx3

ClearPier proudly sponsored the event and showcased our vision of the future of performance ad trading on the exhibitor floor. The ClearPier mission at Dx3: redefine existing conceptions about programmatic in the Canadian market by setting the expectation for an open, transparent, and accountable media landscape.

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Above, Left: The ClearPier team happy to talk about transparent trading at Dx3 Canada 2016. Above Right: From left to right, Ben Mair, CRO, Sunil Abraham, CEO, Jignesh Shah, CTO.

Sunil Abraham, ClearPier CEO, firmly declares that change is underway for programmatic media buying in Canada. “Historically the least transparent elements of digital advertising have been price, performance, and placement. North American marketers have ‘exploited’ the traditional ad stack, hiding behind layers of broken vendor promises,” Abraham says.

ClearPier is out to change these preconceptions, remove marketer hesitations in Canada, and re-introduce transparency into the ad ecosystem.

“We’re on the precipice of something great here. It’s an exciting time for programmatic, for Canada, and for ClearPier. We’re very excited to be here at Dx3 Canada among all these leading vendors,” says Ben Mair, ClearPier CRO.

While the primary focus for ClearPier is to unify demand for publishers across performance, direct sold, and programmatic campaigns, providing advertisers access to the exclusive premium inventory they demand, more is to be expected from this team of innovative technologists making waves in the Canadian media landscape.

2. Physical and Virtual Realities Collide at the Retail Collective Lab

A number of impressive curated interactive zones were on display at Dx3’s Retail Collective Lab, a showcase of the top retail technologies from around the world that unites physical and virtual realities.

This year’s Collective Lab story focused on the ‘store as media’ – the idea that the retail space is the facilitator of brand story and product experience. All of which should and can be measured with the assistance of technology.

IMG_3680 IMG_3691
Pictured above from left: Pepper the humanoid robot by SoftBank Robotics. A 3D screen shot taken live in Stefanka’s interactive fitting room.

Most prominently Pepper by SoftBank Robotics, the humanoid robot that reads your mood, recognizes facial and body language, and reacts accordingly, made its Canadian debut. For retailers, the wide-eyed four-foot tall robot promises to make communication of information with customers a more efficient in-store process.

Other fascinating retail focused technologies featured also included smart projection devices that helps shoppers select a variety of fabrics and furniture in real time by Vizera, and body scanning 3D interactive fitting rooms by Stefanka.

3. PayPal Startup Zone Features the Latest and Greatest

Besides the Collective Lab, Dx3 also hosted the PayPal Startup Zone where 25 of the leading Canadian marketing and retail startups exhibited.

The purpose: to reinforce the fact that if Canadian companies want to thrive in a commercial world with increasingly tech savvy consumers, they need to adapt to changing consumer needs and expectations.

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Pictured: The teaBot booth located in the PayPal Startup Zone at Dx3. teaBot uses robotics to bring consumers an immersive, personalized experience at their self-serve tea kiosks.

Companies like Fetch, the social shopping app still in its beta testing stage, and SmoothPay, an up and coming mobile commerce and customer engagement platform, are re-imagining the consumer shopping experience with innovative technology and unconventional business models.

4. Key Note Learning: Creativity is Key to Innovation in a Tech-Obsessed World

At 8:30 AM on the first morning of Dx3 Neil Stevenson, executive portfolio director at design and consulting firm IDEO, stood in front of a room packed to the brim with entrepreneurs, technologists, marketers, and designers, listening intently. Speaking on the essentialness of creativity to inspire innovation, he likens creativity to breathing – something that’s always unconsciously at work. But to breathe more life into our creative problem solving abilities, we need to nurture our creative souls.

“Most fundamentally, creativity has an input and output, you take something in and make something out of it,” Stevenson said.

If the purpose of businesses is to solve a consumer need, then we must find creative ways to solve them. Startups are great at disrupting conventional business models to bring out creative solutions, but success only comes when “you put your ideas out in an egoless way” and engage in a dialogue, whether it be with your creative team or your consumers.

For Stevenson, creative problem solving comes first, the technological solution, second, and listening is essential. It isn’t enough to bring your idea to the table. For ideas to become great, they must be ‘incubated’ – observed, critiqued, and re-shaped by more than one opinion based on the observed needs of the consumer.

5. Live Tweets from the Dx3 Exhibitor Floor

Dx3 was a big success – filled to the brim with fun, fantastic technological displays, and new learnings. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth to chat about transparent trading. Dx3 returns in in March once again next year and we hope to see you there.

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Above: The ClearPier team exhibiting at Dx3 Canada 2016.

BONUS! If you missed the show, click to watch our video for a total recap of Dx3 Canada 2016 in under two minutes.


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